The present invention relates to an improved arrangement for supporting the housing or bearing spider component of a rotary machine of the vertically arranged axis type such as an electrical machine, the component being expandable during operation, and being supported upon a foundation, or another component of the machine, by means of plate springs which are arranged in at least substantially vertical planes beneath the housing or bearing spider.
A vertical-axis machine housing, for example, which is at least approximately rotationally symmetrical about the machine axis expands during operation, the expansion being primarily due to changes in temperature. The housing should be free to expand concentrically with a minimum of inter-stresses between the housing and the foundation or other component on which it is supported. It has already been proposed to support the machine housing on the foundation either by bar springs under compressive stress as disclosed in Austrian Pat. No. OE-PS 164,995, or by means of radially arranged plate springs under compressive stress as disclosed in Austrian Pat. No. OE-PS 229,959, or by radially arranged plate springs under tensile stress, as disclosed in Swiss Pat. No. CH-PS 530,109. These structural solutions make possible a mechanical damping of an alternating torque and partially also an expansion of the machine housing, but such solutions will not ensure in a satisfactory manner maintenance of a complete, i.e., true circularity of the housing. This is especially so in the case of machines of large size. German Pat. No. DT-GM 1,914,702 describes and illustrates a different type of support structure in which the machine housing is secured to its support by means of springs which yield in the radial direction but are rigid in a tangential direction. However, this solution again meets only the requirement of free housing expansion, in this case the stator component of an electrical machine, but without ensuring maintenance of complete circularity of the stator during operation of the machine.